A Saint Like Me?

During the summer, life tends to slow down a little bit. (Though, admittedly, the to-do list for preparing for next school year keeps growing at the admin level.) Still, without the hustle and bustle of the students, parents, and teachers throughout our building, the pace is slower, the mornings are less rushed, and the work hours are, for the most part, shorter.

At least for me, with slowing down comes more time for quiet and reflection. Quiet time is usually a welcome thing, but sometimes it can bring a lot of thoughts, emotions, etc. to the surface, causing normal thoughts for the tasks at hand to be interrupted. In the words of a friend I recently spoke to about having silent time in the car, he said, "Ain't nobody wanna be in there. There's too much going on!" Um...same.

My thoughts have recently been vocational in nature - as in, I have no clue what I'm supposed to do with my life. (Well, that's a little dramatic - I guess I have some clue, as I definitely feel called to this whole Catholic education thing.) But even within Catholic education, what mark am I supposed to make? Am I doing everything I can with what I have to advance the Kingdom of God in the here and now? Am I meant for the single life, or is the good Catholic man I've been praying for going to enter my life at some point in the near future? (I could keep on listing the questions swirling around in my head, but I think this glimpse gives you the idea.)

In life, God tells us to be patient. And that's hard to do, as it's more about trust than patience, IMHO. What's also difficult (yet, I guess you could say freeing at the same time) is there are so many examples and models of how to live the faith. And, as any teacher can tell you, choice is good...until you are overwhelmed by too many of them. Such is how I feel with the Saints. But I was reading an article in the Salesian magazine a few days ago, and one of the things the sister writing the article said stuck out to me: "God knows the world needs a Saint like you, too."

And it's true. God doesn't need another Mother Teresa or Thomas Aquinas, a Therese of Lisieux or an Ignatius of Loyola. He needs us - in all of our brokenness, with all of our gifts. And that is a beautiful thought! So as the pace stays slower (at least for the immediate future), I'm going to take comfort in that. I may not know the road ahead, but I need to trust that God will guide my footsteps.

I hope you take some time to relax and reflect this summer too. And keep fighting the good fight because the world needs a Saint like you, too.

Staying humble and striving to be better...with some help from my friends

You ever have that feeling that you are friends (or walking around) with saints?

In Chicago I have been blessed to get to know many wonderful individuals through my church, and I am so grateful for their friendship because they encourage and challenge me to be a better person and follower of Christ through their daily actions.

One such friend got me involved in Bible study, led me to Mission OLA (where I now volunteer regularly), and has invited me to various Masses and faith-based events over the years. He is a daily Mass goer, and his wife brings their 2 year old daughter to daily Mass too, just a little later in the day. I knew they would be the perfect ones to verify what time daily morning Mass would be today at the church right around the corner, so last night after Mass I inquired.

To my dismay, daily Mass around the corner was canceled since one of the priests had been removed. However, my friend immediately said, "Come to Cantius. Morning prayer starts at 6:30 and then Mass is at 7am." Interesting...and requiring a bit more effort...hmm... I figured I could do it one day, so I told him I would see him there.

I am so grateful for the invitation, as Mass was absolutely beautiful. It was in English, and there was chanting, some use of Latin, some pre-Vatican II practices (e.g. priest facing East, use of the communion rail, etc.), and other things. The church itself is beautiful and very ornate. Overall, it was a peaceful and beautiful experience, especially since the sun was just coming up on my way there and then was melting the snow on my way home. My friend apologized that he was not able to say hello, as he had to rush after communion to catch the train...to catch the bus...to get to work. (Holy cow; if I ever complain about my commute, slap me!) But it honestly didn't matter - it was good just to be there to pray together and to have the opportunity to receive communion. (Plus, I'm sure I'll see him at church this week for Tenebrae.)

I don't know how I am so lucky to have such amazing friends. They help me realize how far from grace and how flawed I am (and I don't mean that in any kind of demeaning or morbid way) while, at the same time, help me strive to draw closer to God every day.

Thanks for looking out for me, God. :)

And so we fight on

If you ask a teacher (especially at a Catholic school) why he/she went into education, I guarantee you it wasn't for the money. If it was, then that person is either pulling your leg or needs to have his/her head examined. Instead, many teachers would likely share some sentiment about wanting to make a difference or wanting to work with young people.

It's selfless and noble, if you think about it. We need more people in our world with such desire.

The challenge with this idea, though, is that there are many days that leave teachers feeling frustrated, disheartened, or downright defeated. Students (and parents) question your decisions, valuable class time is lost, students don't turn in their homework...

And teachers think,

Did anything I say stick with them today? 

Am I actually a good teacher? 

I don't get paid enough for this...

I was going through some of these same thoughts after a few episodes with one class in particular this week. (And I was even absent from school on Tuesday, so I didn't even see my students that day.) I had just made a concentrated effort to help students learn about the Mass, and I overheard some of them this morning excited that they didn't have to go due to the fact that it was canceled because of inclement weather. Talk about disheartening...

But, as I was sitting at my desk this afternoon, I had the urge to pick up the Holy Cross prayer book I was given through my grad school program, and I turned to today's reflection. Here it is in part:

If the book would have fallen on my head I don't think I would have gotten the message any clearer. The reflection says that "we will make a difference if we have the devotion, the generosity, and the faith..." (emphasis added) We have to trust in God that we are right where we need to be and to respond to this understanding with surrender and love.

So, yes, there will be times when students just don't seem to get it or when we go through things for the seemingly twentieth time. But they really do hear...and the seeds are being planted. It's definitely important to remind ourselves of this from time to time.

I was also reminded that none of us works in isolation to make a difference - together with parents, fellow teachers (past, present, and future), their classmates, and others, we are all part of a much bigger picture. It's truly a team effort. 

Catholic school teachers make a difference, yes, but it's not about a difference for our own purposes, for we are only able to do that which God makes us able to do.We are making a difference in terms of building up the Kingdom of God.

So, to all of my Catholic teacher and leader friends, keep fighting the good fight - our students are saints in the making!

And they rose to the (creative) challenge...

These Saint Week packets to go along with the 7th grade Ablaze text have been a really neat experience this year. At least, I'd like to think so. With each chapter/Saint, I try to create tasks that challenge their thinking but also allow for creativity.

And I'm never sure what kind of responses I'll get.

This time around, the students read about Blessed Chiara Luce Badano, a young girl who lived during the 1970s and 1980s in Italy. She has been the most relatable Saint to date, as the book highlighted her love of socializing, playing tennis, hiking, and doing other things normal kids do - by no means did she sound like she lived an "untouchable" lifestyle. Still, it was clear how much Chiara loved God and how much she wanted to help others. Even as a young student in grade school, she would often give her snack away to other children at lunch. And, she would attend daily Mass as often as she could.

While Chiara died (from bone cancer) before the invention of cell phones (and definitely before Smartphones), I couldn't help but wonder what she would have had on her phone if she lived in our day and age. And that sparked an idea - I challenged my students to detail three apps that Chiara would have had on her phone and provide reasoning for each one using their understanding of her life. When I graded their packets this week, I realized how creative each student had been in determining the apps (though some definitely explained their reasoning better than others), and I was blown away.

Here are two examples - You may have to click on each image to read its content:

There were other tasks too, including the more typical paragraph with evidence and reasoning as well as the invitation to design a symbol to represent Chiara and the effect of her life on others.

Here are a couple of those - again, you may have to click on each to view:

All in all, I am glad the 7th graders have been open to being the "guinea pigs" for this book and the respective packets. Hopefully each year I'll be able to tweak the packet to be better and clearer.

I'm feeling pretty good going into Christmas break. My bags are (mostly) packed, my presents (though unwrapped) are all in the bag, and I'm ready to visit my sister's school on Friday.

Tomorrow is an 11 a.m. dismissal - we've totally got this! Happy Christmas break everyone!

Oh when the Saints come marching in...

As we were cleaning up from a Confirmation parent meeting, I told the eighth grade teacher today that if the upcoming 8th graders (this year's 7th graders) know nothing else, they'll know the saints. And we're not just talking the most well-known ones like St. Patrick, Mary, St. Joseph, St.Francis, etc. - no, we're talking as little known to as famous as you can get. In fact, a handful of students are obsessed with Padre Pio due to a simple "Think About the Saints" Tuesday prayer journal activity and me sharing about my trip to the north side of the city to see the relics (which I actually didn't end up seeing because I only made it in time for Mass). It's crazy what sticks with them!

This week, though All Saints Day is behind us, we spent some time with the Saints through an art project posted originally on the Look to Him and Be Radiant blog. I pared down the amount of Saint artwork for each student (from nine to three), and instructed students in the methods for carrying out the project. I encouraged students to do some lesser known Saints, which observers would be able to identify through the objects/symbols and dress/garb included in each image.

Here's what happened - can you recognize any of them?:

The Saints are now all over my cabinet - and it's absolutely wonderful!

So...happy belated All Saints Day! What good reminders of striving daily on this earth so that we may one day meet God in Heaven!

The Joy of Sharing the Catholic Faith

I can honestly think of nothing better than engaging in meaningful opportunities to share about the Catholic faith with others.

Maybe I have found my calling as a religion teacher...

Just this week I found out from my principal that the relics of St. Padre Pio would be up at St. Ita's church, so I headed up there after volleyball practice. On the way, I tried to let some friends know about it too (some of whom already did). The Mass itself, while extremely crowded and incredibly hot (no air conditioning), was such a beautiful experience. I only wish I had known and been able to invite others sooner! When I got home, I found my roommates working on some things and enjoying some wine. I joined them, sharing about where I had been. I (unintentionally) threw out some Catholic vocab (e.g. relics), and in doing so I had a natural way to go into more detail about the richness of our faith surrounding the Saints. I loved it!

Then, at aftercare today, one of my seventh graders started asking me about the Saints, as we've been reading about them in the Ablaze book recently --> "Why are so many named Teresa?" This led to how many religious nuns and sisters would take names of the Saints that they wanted to emulate; in a sense, they died to their old selves and began a new way of life. (There are other explanations and reasons too...) This, in turn, led us (somehow!) to religious persecution and other (various) faith topics. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it made the hour we spent outside before gathering our belongings and returning to the classroom until pick-up go much more quickly than usual.

One more Catholic thing that made me extremely happy today was that we started 7 Riddles to Nowhere in 6th grade. Excited to see FXW (one of their sports team rivals) on the cover of the book (as it takes place in Chicago), they finally settled down to listen to the first chapter about Kameron Boyd, his selective mutism, and the possibility of his Catholic grade school closing in the near future. In a few weeks we'll get to take a field trip to the cathedral, and the students will be able to see firsthand some of the clues and descriptions from the book.

This weekend should be pretty amazing - I'm heading to the ND game with my sister tomorrow, and then on Sunday my goddaughter's sister is getting baptized, so I will attend that Mass to be with the family (and hopefully get in some visiting time). In terms of grad school, I just submitted my executive summary (due Sunday) as well as my action plan for another class (also due Sunday), so I think I'm in a good place. So, it seems the best thing I can do to prepare for the weekend is to hit the hay and get some rest...

Let's go Irish!

On being a saint

A prayer used in one of my classes last week really stood out to me, so I wanted to pass it along - it's an entry from the journal of St. John XXIII:

“From the saints I must take the substance, not the accidents of their virtues. I am not St. Aloysius, nor must I seek holiness in his particular way, but according to the requirements of my own nature, my own character and the different conditions of my life. I must not be the dry, bloodless reproduction of a model, however perfect. God desires us to follow the examples of the saints by absorbing the vital sap of their virtues and turning it into our own life-blood, adapting it to our own individual capacities and particular circumstances. If St. Aloysius had been as I am, he would have become holy in a different way” (Journal of a Soul).

Have a beautiful day!

Grading, Preparing, Football, and St. Therese

Where on earth did September go?

I know I'm not the only one thinking that because I've asked around.

I haven't been out of the house much today (which is good because the rain was really coming down earlier) - I've been watching college football, grading, and making slides/videos for the upcoming week of Religion classes. It was a lot of work, but I feel confident that I'll be getting the week off on a strong foot through the preparation.

"Exhibit A": my students' books on prayer with ND playing in the background...

(Tomorrow I will need to catch up with grad school stuff - and by "catch up", I really mean "get ahead so I don't get behind." Story. of. my. life.)

Last night was a ton of fun - I hung out with a few friends from church and also ran into some familiar faces (mostly other ACErs/ACE grads):

No complaints from the weekend so far. And with apple picking (and Mass) tomorrow, life is pretty darn sweet.

But before I close, I would be remiss to ignore the October 1st feast of St. Therese of Lisieux (better known to some as "Therese, the Little Flower" or "Saint of the Little Way"). Happy Confirmation Saint day feast to my sister and me!

St. Therese is such a great model of faith for so many reasons, and this year I joined others in praying a novena to her for vocations - it was helpful to have a way to hold myself accountable (even if it was through coloring):

St. Therese, pray for us!

One more day of the weekend before a short week with students - yay for professional development on Friday!

Summer's Slipping Away

 Nothing says the end of summer like a beautiful wedding... (and an MSU one at that!)

In terms of how I know the bride, I'm luckily guilty by association - Marisa worked with Allison for 4 years at her current school (before Allison went back to State for graduate school), so when Marisa and her co-workers would all hang out, I would tag along too. Not a bad gig - her friends soon became my friends too. And that's just lovely.

Another summer highlight includes the birthday of my goddaughter - the picture below is of her wearing an ACE shirt I sent. (I was unable to make the birthday party, but I got this cute picture via text, and I get to see her and her parents soon.)

 Marisa and I also found this gem of a book at Hallmark - we proceeded to buy copies for the professors we helped this summer. It is absolutely terrific - check out a small sampling of pages below:

#winner #shouldbeoneveryhouseholdbookshelf #becauseJesus (Ok, enough with the hashtags - I mean, gosh, I don't use that many when I'm posting on Twitter.)

There is one last image I will leave you with today - it is from the garden at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Little Flower. (Yeah, say that 5 times fast.) St. Therese reminds us that we do not need to do great deeds; instead, we should strive for doing little things with great love and doing simple acts of kindness and generosity toward others.

Please pardon this post's randomness...and have a happy Tuesday!

United Forever

Today is the Feast of All Saints...but, as it falls on a Saturday, it is not a holy day of obligation for the Catholic Church.

There was Mass offered this morning at my parish, so I decided that would be a great way to start my morning. Apparently, not many people had the same sentiment, as the Church only held about 40(?) people today. But of that amount of people, many were fellow pilgrims on my trip to Israel this summer, and my joy was overflowing for seeing them all.

And this feeling made me realize that after traveling to such a sacred place on our pilgrimage, there will forever be a bond/force/you-name-it that will unite us together. Without a doubt, the pilgrimage changed each of us and wove our lives together, and I am so grateful every day (and especially days like today!) for those who helped make my journey (and memories) so meaningful.

Happy Feast of All Saints!

Little...But Done With Love

On Wednesday, we celebrated the feast day of St. Therese of Lisieux, a Saint who is known for doing little things with great love for God:

There is a lot we can take away from St. Therese, the little flower. She is a Saint we can relate to, especially those who are young, for she died when she was only 24.

Through the intercession of St. Therese, may we grow in holiness by practicing little acts of great love for others and for God. Amen.

Take it Away...

In my middle school religion classes the past two days, I asked the students in their bellwork to think about the big take-aways they have from last year's class (or, if they weren't at our school last year, two to three goals that they have for this year). While I did get many answers that were simply naming activities we did, some students did dig a little deeper:

There are many different Saints, and they became Saints in multiple ways.

There are multiple types of prayer options.

I learned and took to heart how to really value God and make decisions based off my religion.

The seven Sacraments, especially Reconciliation, are gifts and should not be feared.

All Christians who devote their lives to God are Saints, whether or not they are sanctified.

All stories in the Bible are either real things or metaphors to explain God and Jesus' greatness.

I learned that priests are people too. ("Miss Foyle, I learned that by Skyping with your priest friend.")

After I got back from the Holy Land, I had a bit of a different perspective of religion class - my ultimate goal (for the year/years I teach them) should be to get these kids closer to heaven. If they deepen their relationships with God or open their minds to aspects of our faith they hadn't know/thought of before, then I should consider such things "successes."

Iggy & HP

Yesterday was the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola...and it was also the "birthday of Harry Potter" (slash, it was JK Rowling's birthday).

To celebrate that, the Jesuit Post added some punny memes on their Facebook page:

Gotta love the Ignatian humor mixed into the wizarding world of Harry Potter!

And now we're on to August...

You. Did. It. For. Me.

Mass at Notre Dame's Grotto - it's pretty incredible in and of itself, sitting in the shadow of the Basilica on a breezy summer evening.

Tonight, though, was pretty phenomenal, as we were blessed with the presence of the Bishop of Connecticut (at least, I think that's where he was from). He was a dynamic speaker, starting off his homily with a story about Mother Teresa and then circling back around to her at the end of the homily by sharing with us what she shared with many a priest and sister when they questioned whether what they were doing was enough or if they were making a difference: She would take his/her hand in her own and trace from where the nail mark of Jesus would have been to each finger, one for each of these words - "You. did. it. for. me." He reminded us that while our students may not remember what we taught them, they will remember us - how we loved them, spent time with them, encouraged them.

When he finished speaking, many of us had the urge to clap - it was as if we had just heard a motivational speech.

You did it for me. What a good reminder for why we do what we do in Catholic education.

Let us not forget this simple yet powerful message, and let us allow it to daily shape our attitudes and actions in the classroom and with our colleagues.

Amen.

Saints without cassocks

This article follows my post from yesterday quite nicely: "Where are all the saints without cassocks?"

I want to be a Saint!

In the classroom, today was definitely not a red-letter day.

In fact, as class ended, I doubted that the 6th graders had retained any information about the steps in the canonization process. (On a side note, this video from Busted Halo has a pretty straightforward explanation.)

Thankfully, I turned out to be wrong. Even in the chaos and chatter (yes, I wholeheartedly admit that happened today) of the classroom, I somehow was able to drive the message home. One student got so excited while we were discussing the steps as a class that she exclaimed, "I want to be a Saint! That's cool!"

(Can't ask for more than that, can I?)

When I explained to her that each of us probably won't be named official Saints by the Church, we hope to one day be in heaven with God (and that doesn't make us any less holy). She followed up to this by asking, "Well, is there a day for all of those people who don't get named by the Church?" (Yes, All Souls & All Saints Days.)

Hopefully I can chalk the students' behavior up to Monday...come tomorrow, time will tell...

October - What a Beautiful Month!

Today marks the beginning of October - what a great month!

October 1st is also a special feast day in the Church - it's the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux (the little flower). I had my 8th graders watch a video by Fr. James Martin, SJ at the end of class - I think it's important to expose them to as many great Saints as possible before they choose one to take as their Confirmation name.

Speaking of Confirmation...Call me a Catholic nerd, but I definitely chose to celebrate the occasion, donning my Confirmation earrings (a gift from my Confirmation sponsor) and (almost) matching flower cross (a gift from my parents).

(Yes, Mrs. Hosack, I still have them.)

For me, taking the name of St. Therese has been such a blessing. While I originally took her name in memory of my cousin who passed away very young, I have come to know and embrace this beautiful Saint for helping me grow closer to God. Her idea of doing little things with great love is something I strive to do every day. And, I can't write this post without acknowledging that her autobiography, A Story of a Soul, is one of the most incredible, honest, and life-changing books I've ever had the privilege to read.

Okay, enough gushing in one post, right? I'll leave you tonight with some of Therese's own words:

My Wednesday (in words and pictures)

The days get all jumbled together, but here are some things that happened today at each grade level:

8th Grade
We started class with an interesting twist on the Our Father. And then we broke it down (in small groups).

Here is what they came up with... (Please ignore the stabbing...)

Put them together, and there you have the Our Father. Hmm..."I never really thought about it before," they said. Well...now they have.

7th Grade
After spending last night reading the students' exit slips on how to be saints, I decided that the slips were much too great to pass on an opportunity to hang them up. So, for bellwork, I had the students decorate, cut, & color their individual pieces. They ranged from simple paragraphs to recipes to even a poem!

Check them out here - hooray for a decorated door!:

6th Grade

While I don't have pictures to show you from this group, we had a pretty neat class today. The students played a variation on the Fruit of the Spirit game - we upped the difficulty, though, by having the students read off definitions or scenarios for the Fruit and students moving if they had the Fruit that was described.

Best quote in the middle of the game - after standing up, the student realized "I don't have faith!!"(and sat back down), but, quite frankly, that just sounded funny, so we all had a good laugh about it.

And yes, they have pretty much memorized the Fruit of the Spirit song - see yesterday's post. They were singing it up and down the hallway - it kind of made the 8th graders agitated. (It was kind of awesome.)

4th Grade Volleyball

And we can't forget the volleyball game! After practicing with only 4 students (and after getting lost and calling my mom because I got turned around on the way to the game), we played with a total of 5 girls (against their 6 + subs)...and we won! I would have been proud of them if they hadn't because, honestly, they played their little hearts out, made their serves, and had a few decent volleys. And, above all, they were pretty much smiling the whole time. Go forth (4th), dolphins! I'm loving it. 

It's hard to believe today was a Wednesday...I usually don't have quite so much fun on this day of the week...